


hope waits on the other side (reach out for it)

by Sigulinde



Series: Of names and stars [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Reunions, non-binary Summoner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:33:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29382813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sigulinde/pseuds/Sigulinde
Summary: Líf answers a call from someone who isn't Hel.
Relationships: Líf & Sharon | Sharena, Líf & Summoner | Eclat | Kiran
Series: Of names and stars [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2158419
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	hope waits on the other side (reach out for it)

**Author's Note:**

> Can someone give a hug to this man please

A gentle touch, a tender gaze. A warm smile, words of love that could reach his chest. Those were thing that Líf lost, left behind when he took Hel’s cold hand. Things that he thought belonged to Alfonse. Not him. Not the man that was born that dark day.

But there he was. Dying, feeling pain. _Feeling_. His dead body answered to the injuries that pierced his skin, his hand burned as they lost grip on Kiran’s, his Kiran’s Breidablik and his own Sokkvabekkr, and his heart hurt as he felt Sharena’s burning gaze fixated on her.

Not his Share, though. His siter was dead. This world’s, Sharena. This world Alfonse’s Sharena. The lucky one, the one that hasn’t lost anything. The one who wasn’t going to lose anything, because they were going to defeat Hel. Not like him.

“Don’t… look at me like that…,” he growled, trying to keep balance on his knees. He refused to fall. “I… don’t want your-“

Sharena lifted a hand to touch his cheek, just above his mask, and Líf’s walls fell in just one second. Her hand was warm against his body, and he felt how, slowly, his body accepted her warmth. How he accepted the aura of _life_ that surrounded her.

“We’ll defeat Hel,” Sharena said, smiling when Líf focused his gaze on her. Shining emerald eyes, full of hope. “And we’ll find a way to save your world. And then, we’ll summon you, after all of this. And you’ll be happy, and alive.”

“Don’t… make promises that you… can’t keep…” he growled, but his voice trembled, just like his grip on the weapons he held. “Please. Don’t…, don’t give me… hope…”

“You don’t have to believe me now.” Líf saw how Sharena lifted her other hand, and did nothing to stop her, even when he knew what she was going to do. “But you’ll believe me once that happens. I promise. Don’t trust my word if you don’t want to. Believe in… this.”

Sharena took out his mask, and Líf felt how his first instinct was to rest on her touch, on the warm feeling of her hands around his face. Because she was _alive_. It wasn’t his Sharena, he repeated to himself, but it was hard to believe that when she was so similar to her. When they spoke the same way, when they smiled the same way, when both Sharenas looked at him in the same way. With pride. With love. With _hope._

 _Oh, Alfonse,_ he thought, tensing his jaw, _how I envy you…_

Líf’s injuries were slowly paralyzing his body, so he focused all of his strength to keep Sharena’s gaze. He wanted to believe her. He wanted to trust her. He had to because, what else would he do now?

He was already dead, and now he was going… somewhere. Maybe back to Hel’s side as a general. Maybe to hell, if there was one in the other side, or maybe another nameless soldier under the Death Queen’s grip. He didn’t know. He didn’t want to, either.

He just wanted to believe. For once, he wanted to believe in a better future.

“Take… care of them…,” he begged. His gaze was turning blurry, so he couldn’t see more than Sharena’s face in front of him, but he knew that Alfonse and Kiran were behind her. “Alfonse…, Kiran…, please.”

“We will.” Kiran’s neutral voice had something similar to confidence. “I will. I’m sorry for not doing it for your world,” they said. They didn’t sound sorrowful. More like… hopeful. Kiran sounded like they were already seeing the future Sharena was talking about.

 _It was my fault…, what are you talking about?_ he wanted to answer, but his strength failed.

“I… will, Líf. I promise.” Alfonse’s voice had strength, the strength Líf felt he was losing, the strength he lost from the moment his world was destroyed. And he was thankful for that. Alfonse needed his strength, to become a good king. To guide this future well. “I swear it on my father’s name.”

Líf used all of his strength to assent, and just when he did that, he remembered Sharena’s hand holding his face. She played with a bunch of Líf’s hair, and he almost melted in her touch. This brought back so many memories, echoes of a past era that wasn’t coming back. And it shouldn’t, because he was no longer Alfonse but Líf, Hel’s general, the scourge of the death, the one who killed thousand times in a useless attempt to bring his people, his kingdom, his world back.

And yet…, he couldn’t stop his heart of trying desperately to beat again. He couldn’t pretend he wasn’t smiling, a last smile that decided to appear on his lips.

“I promise, too, that I’ll become stronger.” Líf saw Sharena’s eyes sparking one last time, and he thought that maybe it was because she as crying. Or maybe he saw her blurry because he was the one crying, he wasn’t sure. “To protect you. You won’t be alone, Líf. Never again…, brother. You can rest knowing that.”

Rest. Oh, how he wanted to fall asleep in Sharena’s hands. To finally stop killing, stop suffering, stop _feeling._ To stop holding this world’s hope, to let himself be held. Could he? Did he deserve to? Maybe… he did. Maybe he didn’t. But what other option he had when he no longer could feel his own body, when defeat waited for him? His last option was to give up. And he decided that it was his choice to do so. That’s what Líf wanted.

“I… will rest then…” Líf sighed, stopping the effort to fight. “She is… waiting for me…”

_Here I come, Thrasir._

Sharena leaned forward to kiss his forehead, and that was the last thing Líf felt before vanishing into the darkness.

* * *

And the next thing he felt was how his body came back from death itself. The void of darkness surrounded him like a dense mud that refused to let go., but a light was born from _somewhere_ , and he leaned towards it, longing for its warmth.

“Lethal Swordsman, answer my voice!”

Kiran, that was Kiran. Líf fought to lift a hand. Sokkvabekkr on his hip was sturdy, a secure grip to which he could hold on to as his senses slowly reactivated. Where was he? And how?

“Please, brother.”

Sharena.

He inhaled, a cold air that smelled like death and hope, and straightened his back, trying to open his eyes. He failed: as soon as he managed to open just one, the light in front of him grew stronger, so he had to close it again as he was summoned… somewhere: his feet found a secure floor sooner than later, and a warm cheer reached his ears. It was cold, and wind played with his coat and hair.

Líf opened his eyes, slowly, and the light blurred his gaze for a second. A silhouette appeared in front of him, and so he took a battle pose, hand on Sokkvabekkr, chest leaning forward. “Where… am I?” he asked in a growl, expecting the silhouette to stand back, to attack him.

But it didn’t. It only walked closer, so he could take a hint of who they were, and soon Líf recognized Kiran. With a warm smiled and a gentle spark on his amber gaze, the summoner stared at him as if they were looking at an old friend. Líf quickly understood the situation.

He had been summoned, just like he saw Kiran do once and thousand times.

“Ah, I see. It’s you, Kiran,” he saluted, sighing against his mask as he straightened up again, looking around. “I am known as…” His gaze felt on Alfonse. “… Líf.”

“Welcome back home, Líf.” Something in those words send a shiver through Líf’s back. He took air to answer, his gaze slowly seeing familiar faces and smiles on the crowd, old allies from better times, until-

“You’re here!” Líf turned, and he quickly recognized a blonde, long hair before someone threw themselves to his arms, surrounding his neck. He took a few steps back, and didn’t give it too much thought before he caught the girl on his arms with his own arms, avoiding her to fall. “Welcome home,” Sharena’s voice said in his ear, and Líf’s self-imposed walls vanished in just three words: “You’re free now.”

He looked up to Kiran, blinking fast, as if asking for their permission. Maybe he was: was he… free? Finally, it was over? Had they managed to kill Hel? What about Thrasir, Eir? Were they finally resting in pea-

Kiran nodded. “It’s over. You are the last to come home.”

Líf inhaled… and something in the warm air that played with his and Sharena’s coat allowed him to breathe again, feeling now something similar to freedom. His heart beated oddly, slowly on his chest, and he felt alive. Hel was… gone. Hel was gone. And this world? It was safe.

And Sharena, and Kiran were alive. This Askr was safe. Maybe even Thrasir was around, considering Kiran’s words. He was the last to arrive, to reach this feeling. To feel this hopeful, this relaxed, this… this… happy.

Líf was happy.

And he was crying.

“You all… won?” he asked on Sharena’s hair, hugging her closer. Has she always been this little, compared to him? As she hugged his neck, he realized that she couldn’t even touch the floor, but Sharena didn’t seem to care. “How?”

“I’ll tell you everything,” his sist- Sharena, Sharena promised. Líf felt how she left a soft kiss on his cheek, just above the mask and a bunch of hair. But now…, you’re here. And that’s all that matters.”

He took air to answer… but he realized that there was a knot on this throat that wouldn’t vanish soon. And it didn’t need to, he realized. He had all the time in the world now. It didn’t matter because, as Sharena said… he was alive, too, just like this world of light surrounding him.

Líf hugged Sharena even closer, as if trying to cover her with his body, and nuzzled on his sister’s neck as he started to cry. Soft, almost hidden sobs that he tried to hold back first. But when she started playing with his hair, he realized he was crying _harder_ , and he thought that maybe it was okay to do it. It was indeed.

Because he had already been through hell and worse, so what could go wrong now?

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to follow me on Twitter as @sigulinde!!


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